Minestrone and Bacon Soup

I hate to say it…but winter is coming. Not in a scary “Game of Thrones” kind of way. A more real, “its a bit chilly in the mornings and the evenings are drawing in” kind of way! To get you through the autumn / winter months, try this yummy minestrone and bacon soup recipe.

This warming autumn and winter staple is great to cook-up in a batch at the weekend, and then eat for lunch / tea until it is all gone! It won’t take long, I really LOVE this recipe!

To make my Minestrone and Bacon soup recipe you will need…

Ingredients

3 sticks celery (diced)

2 carrots (diced)

2 courgettes (diced) (thanks to my lovely friend Jen at We are Allotmental for the scrummy carrots and courgettes – look at the size of that courgette!)

2 onions (diced)

2 cloves of garlic (crushed)

1tsp oil

3tsp paprika

1tbsp tomato puree

180g pancetta or bacon

800g tinned tomatoes

400g tin haricot beans

200g pasta (I used soup-pasta but you could use spaghetti broken into pieces)

2.5pt beef stock

splash each of balsamic vinegar and Worcester sauce

Method

1 – Add onion, carrot, celery to a large soup pan with 1tsp oil and fry gently for 3-5 minutes

2 – Add diced courgette to the pan and stir through whilst you chop the pancetta or bacon into strips.

3 – Push the veg to one side in the pan and add the bacon and garlic. Fry lightly before stirring into rest of veg

4 – Add paprika and tomato puree and stir through

5 – Pour in the stock and tinned tomatoes and then simmer gently for 30-45 minutes

6 – Add the haricot beans and pasta and then simmer for a further 10-15 minutes (until pasta and veg is soft)

7 – Add splash of balsamic vinegar and Worcester sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve!

I really LOVE eating this topped with a little cheddar cheese and some crusty bread!